People sing for different reasons. Some people want to be on Broadway, others on the radio, others in the next Disney movie.

In this post I want to open the conversation to: What happened to the desire to sing because we just love to sing?

JUST BECAUSE; we love the way it makes our bodies feel, the beauty of a melodic line, and joy it can bring to others to hear a sweet voice.

Sometimes, in this world we seem to forget that. (I myself am included in that “we”).

As we rush to auditions, or dream of being the next star on The Voice, X factor, or American Idol. We lose the joy of singing in the process.

I am not saying NOT to have these goals. They are fantastic and they drive you to practice and learn and improve. But sadly, chances are slim of reaching these big goals for most of us, and if we only focus on the end results we may lose the love for the music we started out with.

There needs to be a way for both, there also needs to be a way to appreciate and celebrate the singer who just loves to sing period.

It really became clear to me a few months ago when I was working with a beautiful young singer. Her voice was fabulous, she was a teenager, and she had the “full package”- was beautiful, gave you a great feeling inside when she would sing, etc…

I remember asking her what she wanted to do with her voice. And she just kind of shrugged her shoulders. “No I mean, are you planning on doing these auditions? Should we be preparing you to be heard by agents? Do you need to record a demo? Do you write your own songs?”. I kept asking, thinking she just didn’t get my question. She kept shrugging her shoulders. I finally got it out of her. She just loved to sing. “But why are you taking lessons? What is your goal?” I pushed on.-

– “I just like to sing“, she said.

Whoa, I forgot about people like that. Is that possible? This girl with all this talent did not want to be “a singer.” And what is a singer?” Must it be the person who dedicates their whole life to pursuing success with singing? And what is success with singing? Getting on TV?

What about the mother with a beautiful voice who sings her children to sleep every night, or the person who picks up the guitar and can always be counted on leading songs during a camping trip, or the person who sings at church, or someone who stands up to sing at a friend’s wedding? What about those people, are they not singers too?

Perhaps they love singing because they don’t feel the need to quantify it by “getting there or making it.”

They just love to sing and that is enough. How simple, no strings attached.

Is the car singer any better off than the stage performer?

I think it is important to be connected to the spiritual joy of singing, so that the goals do not get in the way or tarnish our love for the music.

Why do you sing?

Does it fulfill you enough without the reached goal, or do you sing for the goal?

-I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!!

Sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

Written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of :

Voice Lessons To Go- The box set

Voice Lessons To Go for Kids!- v.1 Sing Out Proud!

Vocalize!- The sheet music compilation of all four Voice Lessons To Go CDs.

Want a professional opinion of how you sound? Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio-visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away

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